Suchergebnisse

"There are more children in Icelandic families than in the other Nordic countries. Workforce participation in Iceland is also amongst the highest in the West. The need for family support is therefore immense. While overall expenditures on families with children in Iceland have converged with those of other Nordic nations in the last few years, the expenditures per child up to age 17 are still significantly lower in Iceland. This is more marked for expenditures on benefits; expenditures on services are comparable with those found in other Nordic countries. During the 1990s, significant policy changes occurred in Iceland, which have improved the legal rights and conditions of families with children. These applied, for example, to rights to paternity and maternity leaves, children's right to receive care from both parents, and a stronger status for joint care. The rights of same-sex couples were significantly enhanced in 2006. Day care services (pre-school) have extensively grown since the early 1990s (increased rates of use and longer care hours) and so have after-school services. On the other hand, expenditures on child benefits have fallen since 1990. It is not clear at this stage whether this has changed the extent of poverty amongst families with children." (author's abstract)

"There are more children in Icelandic families than in the other Nordic countries. Workforce participation in Iceland is also amongst the highest in the West. The need for family support is therefore immense. While overall expenditures on families with children in Iceland have converged with those of other Nordic nations in the last few years, the expenditures per child up to age 17 are still significantly lower in Iceland. This is more marked for expenditures on benefits; expenditures on services are comparable with those found in other Nordic countries. During the 1990s, significant policy changes occurred in Iceland, which have improved the legal rights and conditions of families with children. These applied, for example, to rights to paternity and maternity leaves, children's right to receive care from both parents, and a stronger status for joint care. The rights of same-sex couples were significantly enhanced in 2006. Day care services (pre-school) have extensively grown since the early 1990s (increased rates of use and longer care hours) and so have after-school services. On the other hand, expenditures on child benefits have fallen since 1990. It is not clear at this stage whether this has changed the extent of poverty amongst families with children." (author's abstract).

The Nordic states have extensive welfare systems in which the local social services are an important component. Despite a growing research on disaster resilience, we lack research examining in systematic way whether and how local social services in the Nordic countries contribute to resilience. Aiming to fill this gap, this article asks whether we can identify a common Nordic model of the role of local social services in disasters, or whether the countries have taken different paths. We use policy documents and legislation to examine the extent to which roles for local social services are embedded in the disaster management systems of the five Nordic countries. We analyze the institutional organization in eachcountry, as well as the models of social services related to disasters from a comparative perspective. We find that the Nordic countries have chosen quite different paths regarding local social services' role in disaster management and conclude that there is no Nordic model. Another general conclusion is that a more robust position of local social services within the disaster management system might enhance disaster resilience in the Nordic countries as a whole. ; acceptedVersion